En route to Zanzibar: 5 Sep 2006

7092006

I swore not to ride the bus again after going to Arusha, so when we got back to Arusha from safari, I made plane reservations for the next day to fly to Zanzibar. (The alternative was a 9-hour bus ride back to Dar and then take a 3-hour ferry to the island.) The plane ride was only 1 hour. 🙂 I booked a room ahead of time, took a taxi to the hotel and had a smooth transition. The woman at the hotel reception is exceptionally nice. We are staying at Pyramid Hotel: aptly named because climbing the staircase going to the 2nd floor reminds me of what climbing a pyramid might be like-very steep and challenging.

Stone town is a whole different experience from mainland Tanzania, but it was, until recently, a separate country. The religion is 80% muslim, 10& christian and 10 % other, so most of the local women wear head covering consisting of anything from a colorful scarf to the full black covering with only eyes showing. The streets are winding and narrow. One street we saw only had room for people to walk single file. When we were dropped by the taxi driver, he took us to a parking lot and then walked us the rest of the way. Mopeds are common.